As their Edinburgh fringe hit Sap heads on a UK tour, playwright Rafaella Marcus and producer Ellie Keel discuss the future of new writing, the rise of ‘safe’ programming and the need for better funding
Arifa Akbar: Rafaella, how would you describe Sap and what led you to write it?
Rafaella Marcus: It’s very loosely based on the Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo. It is essentially about a person with power who pursues a person with little to no power and she finds escape through transformation. I was coming at it as someone who has been a director of new writing and a dramaturg for much longer than they’ve been a writer. I started it a long time ago but convinced myself that I couldn’t write it because it’s much easier to exist in one box than multiple boxes in this industry. Then I thought “I won’t see if it has any legs unless I see it in front of people.” So before I could chicken out I put it in for Vault festival. I didn’t expect them to take it but when they did I thought: “Now I really have to finish writing it.”
